The Millennium Falcon Project

Construction of the hull takes place very slowly and begins with the white metal framework while adding one section of hull at a time. Keep in mind that the hull of the Millennium Falcon is three feet long and two feet wide.​ Our first step was to correct a "defect" in the factory assembled turret which featured a turret frame that was incorrectly aligned with the turret opening or canopy. Picture 1 shows the turret opening with the turret frame incorrectly aligned with the turret opening. Using a sharp X Acto knife, we cut along the inside seam in order to release the turret frame as seen in picture 2.

Picture 3 shows the turret frame repositioned in the turret opening and secured to the hull with plastic cement.

1 2 3 ​g to your customer

​​The exterior hull plates are secured to a white metal frame as seen in the picture below Each individual piece is held together with brass fittings and jewelers screws creating a sturdy lattice on which to mount the hull plates.

We have taken the frame sections from the first five or six installments and assembled them accordingly. This one section is about one quarter of the bottom hull which might give you some idea as to the size of the Falcon when it is finished. It's huge.

​ Assembly of the upper and lower hull frames continues in this manner for the first twelve installments or so. We will add the ABS plastic hull plates in the order that they are provided using short, coarse threaded screws. Each plate overlaps with the other so you must be careful to secure them in the correct order. One of the subassemblys of the outer hull is the boarding ramp.​

​ The boarding ramp consists of the metal frame on the left, followed by the ABS hulll pieces, the door actuators above and then the actual motor. Assembly is pretty straightforward. The kit also includes an LED strip which comes prewired which makes installation very easy. Once the ramp is installed, assembly of the rest of the lower hull is accomplished. The kit also includes an LED strip which comes prewired which makes installation very easy. Both the LED and ramp motor is plugged into the Falcon's main control board which is secured to the bottom hull frame. The ramp hinges are then added and then the entire assembly is secured to the lower frame.

We will now add stabilizers, engine cover plating, engine hardware and lots of surface greeblies. Somewhere in this process we assembled the antenna and the finally the main cutaway which covers the main hold compartment. This assembly is removable and is secured to the hull using rare earth magnets.

The next step is to continue adding hull plates to both the upper and lower frames. Along with the hull plates, we added the hull recesses as seen above left. These were painted with Vallejo flat black and then dry brushed with flat aluminum. A rust colored washed was also added in some cases. Pictured below right is the finished upper hull which is massive.

One of the first assemblys in this project consisted of the blaster cannons found on the upper and lower hull. Blaster parts are cast from white metal and required a fair amount of clean up before applying the first coats of primer. We took a Dremel to the ends of the gun barrels and then applied several coats of Tamiya Insignia White to match the hull base color. We added some MIG Starship Filth to the blaster cannons to give them some serious detail and the appearance that have been used a lot in combat or evading Imperial fighters. The next step will be the side frames and impulse engine nacelles.​